HowSAFE: How States Account
for Failure in Europe
A collaborative project between King’s College
London, Sciences-Po, Bielefeld University and
Maastricht University funded through the Open
Research Area programme for the social sciences
jointly funded by the ESRC, DFG, ANR, and NWO.
Wednesday 12 September 2012
Pyramid Room, King’s College London
What do flooding, workplace safety, food, health care, criminal justice, and education all have in
common? All these policy domains can – indeed, according to some should – be governed through
what are known as ‘risk-based’ approaches to regulation and management. Premised on the idea that
governance cannot, and should not, eliminate all adverse outcomes, risk-based approaches embody
particular understandings about how far the State should go to prevent adverse governance outcomes
and, indeed, the very meaning of governance ‘failure’ and ‘success’. Such approaches, however, have
the potential to come into conflict with varying governance traditions and societal expectations about
how adverse outcomes should be managed both across countries and policy domains.
The aim of this workshop is to consider how best we can explore these issues across these six policy
domains in the UK, France, Germany and the Netherlands. For example, how can we best improve
our understandings of similarities and differences across the case study domains and countries? What
complementary case studies of other policy domains and countries already exist that could
complement and broaden our understandings? What capacities can we draw on and build within KCL,
partner universities and beyond to improve our understanding of risk-based governance?
9:30:
Coffee and welcome
9:45-11:00:
Introduction to the project

Henry Rothstein (KCL) How States Account for Failure in Europe

Discussion
11:00-11:15:
Coffee
11:15-13:00:
Domain Perspectives

Prof. George Szmuckler (Institute of Psychiatry, KCL)

Tim Harris (International Chemicals Unit, Health and Safety Executive)

Prof. Erik Lebret (Chief Scientist of the Division of Environment and Safety at the National Institute
of Public Health and the Environmental (RIVM))

Discussion
13:00-14:00:
Lunch and Thoughts on the Way Ahead
For further information on the project:
www.kcl.ac.uk/sspp/departments/geography/research/hrg/projects/howsafe/index.aspx